Remote Working Part 2 – Things you should know about managing yourself
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009The number one reason members of both sexes fail to adapt to operating remotely is they fail to realise the neccesity of good organisation and robust self management.
I have been operating remotely for almost a decade since I first unearthed Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software online system and was mesmerised by the fact that if you can perform accounting on the net then why shouldn’t it be feasible to perform other key types of of work remotely?
Whilst working remotely has many benefits there are numerous pitfalls which evolve into issues that cause cuts in work output and reduced morale. The key reason for decreases in productivity in remote workers is disruption and it is a proven and well known fact that it can take a person up to twenty minutes to return to their original efficiency level after experiencing a disturbance.
Research also shows that men and women who are consistently subjected to distractions are more likely to be susceptible to decreased memory ability and are prone to developing mental health issues in later life. We live in an over communicated world and it is critical that you recognise the issues this causes before you begin working remotely. When working remotely you should do everything feasible to remove the threat of being interrupted.
Here’s how I do it:
1, Get a routine, tell everyone about it and stick to it!
Good examples are a fixed time of day when you check or send mail and make or take telephone conversatiions. Before I began working remotely I used to get in the region of 200 electronic mails every 24 hours. Now I think I am unfortunate if I receive over five. To ’reset’ my e-mail experience I changed my e-mail address and tenaciously took steps to look after the details being made known to anyone. I then educated every party who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it prudently. I also set up an auto-responder that swiftly informed anyone sending me mail my schedule for processing mail and if an item should have my urgent consideration to mark it as ‘Urgent’.
2. Get rid of alerts.
Disable absolutely everything that can send you a perceptible alert. This includes portable and
conventional handsets and types of alerts from e-mail such as display events, audible warnings, screen changes to your inbox list and of course facing a window. Get a door on your work room and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.
In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – ‘Tools of the trade’’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.